I have been working an alternate shift at work to cover our office in Asia. I start at 3pm in the afternoon and finish up around 11pm. I have slowly adjusted to the different time by sleeping in later and trying to stay up late on the weekend. I do like having six straight hours of time each day to exercise, prepare dinner, take care of chores, shop. I feel like I have so much more time since it is not broken into two chucks – before and after work. I have been pretty good at getting to bed right after work.

I have also been looking for something on the television to watch before work. Daytime TV is even worse than evening TV. I normally do not watch a lot of TV but yesterday I decided to give it a try. I think it is the commercials that drive me to distraction. They repeat over and over the same thing. I mean how many times can I watch an ad for Medic Alert in an hour?

So I turned to the computer and checked out the videos on PBS. I came across a very inspiring program on the PBS videos – Solar Mamas. It is a film that is part of the Independent Lens series on Poverty. It focuses on women who were brought from around the world to study for a month at the Barefoot College in India. They were being taught how to set up a solar light system with the goal of training rural poor to be independent and sustainable.

They focused on one woman from Jordan and the challenges she had to over come in her family and village. She had the dream to make a change but was constantly being held back by her family, her husband, her village. But there were also many little things that I saw as common issues faced by any woman – the first time traveling, going to a place where they did not speak her language, lack of education not only in science but also the basics of reading and writing, being away from her children. But there was also the joys of learning, friendship and support between women, success and learning to know yourself.

I wonder if she was able to full fill her dream of bringing changes to the women of her village. She wanted to teach them what she learned so they could set up a solar collective. The ending implied that she was still facing many challenges. But this is the type of television that keeps me from throwing it out the door. The video is no longer available on PBS but do look for it elsewhere.